The Type 31 used smokeless powder cartridge shots, and had a semi-rigid recoil system using cables connected to a set of springs.

[4] The gun remained in service to the end of World War II where it was held in reserve.

About 50 of these later surfaced in the Red Army during Finnish Civil War, and ultimately 44 guns were appropriated by Finland when the hostilities ceased.

Forty-two of these guns, together with 28,000 shells, were sold again in 1937 to republican Spain in the ongoing Spanish Civil War.

The chartered Estonian transport Yorbrook, carrying guns and ammunition, was intercepted in the Bay of Biscay by the Spanish cruiser Canarias shortly before the Battle of Cape Machichaco on 5 March 1937.